Week 01 – Climb a Tree

So why did I put this resolution in the list? Well, the astute amongst you will already know that this is from the “remembering my past” section, which should give you a clue. Back when I was a child, I spent many a day climbing in the trees in my parent’s back garden. The target tree in question invariably depended on how old/tall I was at the time, but from what I can recollect it was the small apple tree behind the shed initially, then the huge cooking apple tree in the middle of the lawn for many years (with thanks to the rope ladder my parents gifted me one birthday/Christmas), followed by the very tall pear tree in the middle of the gooseberry patch at the far end of the garden during my teenage years.

I’ll always remember the “treehouses” we tried to build in up them (usually just a collection of small bamboo poles and a few blankets), and the time we hauled an old TV antenna up into the pear tree and hooked a homemade/kit crystal radio to it in order to try to listen to signals more clearly. However, the memories are all that’s left now, as the small apple and tall pear trees were both cut down during a redevelopment over a decade ago, and the large cooking apple tree was chopped down a few years back, so I’ll never be able to repeat those endeavours.

Therefore, the aim of this resolution is to try to relive a brief moment from my past, and to do something that I’m far too sensible & grown up for now. There is one slight snag to this plan – where I’m currently living is predominately palm trees (FYI the trunks of which are actually just very tall stalks, not real tree trunks), with most only having being planted in the last few decades, so my first challenge will just be to find a big established “real” tree for climbing. I shall have to keep my eyes open on my travels around the area… Then, once I’ve identified the right candidate, I’ll have the main challenge of the climb itself. Should be fun!

Oh, and one last thing – I shall prove that I’ve met the resolution by taking a photo from up in the branches, so I can’t just pretend to have done it!